Waymo, the autonomous vehicle company, is stepping up to help cities in their battle against potholes. Municipal officials in various cities where Waymo operates have reached out to the company for assistance in identifying potholes on their streets. Fortunately, Waymo has the data they need and has recently launched a pilot program in partnership with Google’s Waze to share this information with city officials.
The primary goal of this initiative is to improve the safety of city streets for both human and autonomous drivers. By using its perception hardware, including cameras, radar, accelerometers, and physical feedback systems, Waymo logs every pothole encountered by its vehicles. Originally, this data was collected to ensure passenger safety by slowing down the vehicles when encountering potholes. However, the company realized the value of this data for cities as well.
The data collected by Waymo is now being made available to city departments of transportation through the Waze for Cities platform. This platform provides real-time, user-generated traffic data that officials can use to make informed decisions, such as prioritizing pothole repairs. Additionally, Waze users can validate pothole locations through their own observations, reducing the chances of false positives.
Cities currently rely on a patchwork of non-emergency 311 reports and manual inspections to address pothole issues. Waymo’s pilot program aims to streamline this process by providing valuable data to city officials. The program is being launched in the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Austin, and Atlanta, where Waymo has already helped identify approximately 500 potholes. The company is open to expanding the project to address other street conditions based on feedback from officials.
In addition to improving road safety, Waymo hopes that this partnership will help strengthen its relationship with cities. The company has faced opposition in some cities, particularly those with strong union presence, over concerns about job displacement due to the rise of autonomous vehicles. By demonstrating the positive impact of their technology on street quality and safety, Waymo aims to build trust with policymakers and communities.
“We want to be responsive to cities,” said Arielle Fleisher, Waymo’s policy development and research manager. “They are interested in safer streets and potholes are really a tough challenge for cities. So we really wanted to meet that need as part of our desire to be a good partner and to ultimately advance our goal for safer streets.”
By leveraging its technology to address critical infrastructure challenges like potholes, Waymo is not only enhancing road safety but also positioning itself as a valuable partner in building smarter, safer cities.